It Starts Tomorrow!

The Dirty Mac Road Trip launches in 24 hours! We'll be in the airport this time tomorrow, about to jet off to the USA. Just to recap on what we're doing - to keep you as excited as we are - our destinations and intentions read a little something like this:

CHICAGO
Meeting some Chicago Blues legends, hitting Buddy Guy's world famous blues club, visiting the former site of Chess Records, and generally blowing some hot air through the Windy City!

DETROIT
There's only one reason we're going to Detroit, and that is MOTOWN! Unfortunately, we know the official museum is closed on the day of our visit, but that ain't stopping us. We'll be meeting and interviewing a bunch of Motown alumni who'll talk us through the label's glory years, before heading down to the building where it all began to revisit old memories...

NASHVILLE
We head to the beating heart of country music for the Grand Ol' Opry, Ernest Tubb's record store, the honky tonks of Broadway, and perhaps meeting some rather famous faces for interviews and bar crawls...

MEMPHIS
The birth place of rock 'n' roll, and the home of its king, Elvis Presley. We'll of course be visiting Graceland, hitting Beale Street for the blues and mining the city's rich heritage of rock n roll music, but we'll also be getting into some deep soul. We're visiting the city's soul museum, the former site of Stax Records, and meeting some of the label's former stars.

CLARKSDALE
This incredible town lays claim to great music legends. Home to Muddy Waters, Sam Cooke, John Lee Hooker, Son House, it's also the place where Bessie Smith died. It lies at the centre of the American Blues Trail; a tourist route devoted to uncovering the sites of interest around the southern states of the USA. Robert Johnson apparently sold his soul to the Devil at the crossroads around these parts... We'll be visiting the lovely people at the Delta Blues Museum and speaking to local stars who'll tell us more about Clarksdale's legacy...

NEW ORLEANS
The Big Easy! Our driving trip culminates in Louisiana, the birthplace of jazz and Louis Armstrong. The melting pot of cajun, blues, soul, jazz and a multiplicity of styles that blare out from every open door. We'll be meeting some artists keeping the sounds alive in New Orleans, then sampling some of the city's famed cocktails. We'll also take a drive out of town to visit Gram Parsons' grave and pay our respects.

NEW YORK
We end our trip with a flying visit to the Big Apple, where we'll be presenting a show live on East Village Radio (http://www.eastvillageradio.com) to play the best of our interviews, regale listeners with points of interest from the places we visited, and welcome special guests in to join us (and possibly play!)

This page will be updated regularly with photos, videos and nonsense as it happens, so please do keep in touch and let us know what you think!